SIRC: Antares seeks to beef up business lines in 2026, with cyber and terrorism focus

November 6 2025 by

Antares Group, the Qatari Insurance Company-backed Lloyd’s insurer, will target growth in new lines of business in APAC and consolidate its position after its turnaround strategy gathered momentum in 2024, according to its senior management.

The insurer, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Singapore at SIRC this week, sees a softening of rates in APAC at the upcoming renewals, particularly property catastrophe, following a benign year for natural catastrophe losses in the region.

“The last two years for Asia have been quite benign for us so this year the renewal discussion is going to be very interesting,” said Li Shan Yeo, CEO of Antares Underwriting Asia, in an interview with InsuranceAsia News. “We do anticipate that it is very much going to be a buyers’ market.

“Different sectors and lines of business will have a different experience in terms of renewals

“It will not be a flat -5% reduction. It very much depends on individual lines – some will be more distressed, and others will be more moderate. “

Property renewal rates in APAC are expected to be down materially following a “benign” year for natural catastrophe losses in the region, according to Li.

The region has seen flooding in recent months and losses relating to typhoons, but barring the Myanmar-Thailand earthquake, the industry in APAC has faced few US$1 billion plus insured loss events.

Heading into 1.1 renewals, reinsurers must remain disciplined in the face of the market softening.

“If you do not maintain the discipline, you are faced with a lot of pressure on your margins, and it is not sustainable in the long term,” Li said. “We do not want another situation like 2017-18.

“There is definitely an opportunity in the sense that there is a lot of underinsurance. On the other hand, if insurers and reinsurers are not careful with the reduced margin, then we will not see much growth.”

“For us, the growth area is new lines. There are certain areas where we are really focusing like cyber, and terrorism. These are areas where we want to do more.”

Li Shan Yeo, Antares Underwriting Asia

In 2026, Antares will look to do more in lines where it is currently “very underweight,” particularly cyber, as recent large scale cyber attacks drive awareness and demand for cyber cover, according to Li.

“For us, the growth area is new lines,” she added. “There are certain areas where we are really focusing like cyber, and terrorism. These are areas where we want to do more.”

Antares has been looking to kick on following a breakout year in 2024, when its restructuring gathered pace, with a long-term target to reach US$2 billion of GWP, according to CEO Mike van der Straaten.

“Overall, as long as we are proactive in the way we do business, we will fight our corner,” van der Straaten said.

“Those that are writing pro rata have a harder battle than we have in securing terms that make it work and produce a good margin for themselves.”

In FY24, Antares grew its core ongoing business’ gross written premium by 54% in 2024 to US$1.1 billion, aided by the impact of a large reinsurance deal. Excluding this deal, the growth would have been15%.

“We are projecting [GWP] of US$1.4 billion,” van der Straaten added. “The US$2 billion target because of the market changing at the moment, we don’t think is achievable in the next couple of years, but we are still holding it down as our goal.

“We are currently at around US$1.3 billion. If we could go to US$1.45 billion, or US$1.5 billion, that would be great growth.”

As part of its current strategy, last year Antares restructured its business into three new divisions – retail, commercial and legacy.

The legacy vision manages Antares’ run-off portfolio, which is mostly comprised of a large motor book in Gibraltar, which it no longer writes, while the commercial unit houses Antares Re and its Lloyd’s Syndicate 1274, which writes property, casualty, marine, specialty and reinsurance business.

“We have stepped into that market in a very small way and we’re looking at opportunities to grow that business, but we’re very happy with the Lloyd’s results.”

Mike van der Straaten, Antares

Antares’ retail unit is responsible for its growth push into retail lines via MGAs, a key component of its growth plans.

In 2025, the Lloyd’s business has been profitable, with Syndicate 1274 posting a UK GAAP profit of US$42 million during the first half of the financial year, and a net combined ratio of 96.3% on GWP of $369 million.

The profitable result comes despite Antares provisionally reserving US$75 million to cover losses arising from the Los Angeles wildfires in January, the biggest insured catastrophe loss of 2025, and Russian aviation war losses.

“We have had the wildfires and the Ukrainian losses in the second quarter,” van der Straaten said.

“We just had our third quarter, and we are on track to meet plan again this year, and next year as looking quite favourable.

“As long as we’re proactive, I think we can achieve a good result.”

Antares expects to maintain its current Lloyd’s stamp capacity of around US$700 million amid the ongoing market softening, according to van der Straaten.

“I think [the Lloyd’s business] has reached the level where it needs to sit down and protect itself,” he added. “We are still looking at DNF, which is missing from our portfolio.

“We have stepped into that market in a very small way and we’re looking at opportunities to grow that business, but we’re very happy with the Lloyd’s results.”

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